Improved drilling, riveting, and watch-jewelling apparatus



tuitetl gistera aient Gemine,

C. HOPKINS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

lietters Patent No. 98,497, dated January 4, 1870 antedatecl December 30, 1569.

IMPROVED DRILLING, RIlVIElTIlTC-l'-, AND WATCH-JEWELLING APPARATUS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, C. HOPKINS, of the city of Philadelpl'1ia,in the county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and improved Combination Apparatus for Uprighting, Freein g, Gent-n'ng, Drilling, Bushing, Wheel-Riveting, Watch-J ewelling, and other purposes connected with the work of watch-making and repairing; and I do herebyl declare thatl the following is a clear, full, and .exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of `several of the most Yimportant parts of the apparatus in combination.

Figure 2 is a section ofthe Watch-jewelling, freeing,

yhandle.

,Figure 13 is a side view of one of the forms of cutter for the watch-jewelling and freeing instrument.

Figures 14 and l5 are modified forms, in miniature, of the uprighting-piece.

This apparat-ns is designed to facilitate the work of the watch-maker and repairer iu the execution of several ofthe most important parts of the work that is required to be performed by him, namely, uprighting watch-wheels, by determining the correct centres for opposite pivot-holes; marking the centres and drilling holes upright after the correct points for drilling have been determined; freeing the wheels and other parts ot' watcheswhere binding, cha-flug, or undue friction is found to exist between the acting and stationary parts; cutting o" and finishing pivot-hole bushings; making new jewel-hole settings, and resetting jewels where previous ones have been broken out; and riveting wheels upright on their pinions.

Heret-ofore, it has required the use of five or six separate and distinct tools o1' sets of tools, and some of them expensive ones, to perform 'properly the different kinds of Watch-work above referred to, and the greatest difculty experienced by a large majority of watch-repairers, in executing fine work, has arisen from the want of some one or more of these several tools, the aggregate expense of which having been greater than they were able to afford, While in one particular at least, namely, that of riveting wheels upright on their pinions, no tool or set of tools has, I believe, ever been heretofore employed, the riveting-punches used for this purpose having always' been guided4 iu their upright position solely by the hand, and were consequently ever liable to inaccuracy as to results f their use. Y

To obviate, however, all these several diculties, and to place within the reach of watch-makers and repairers, even of very moderate means, facilities for executing quickly and accurately all these more diliicult parts of watch-work, I have invented the combination apparatus hereinafter described.

In the drawings- A represents a metallic bed, of any appropriate form, dat and perfectly level on its top, but having the projectingpart a, underneath:extending downward to the distance of two or three inches, or sufficiently far to afford ample bearing for the back centring-piece B, which passes upward through the centre of this projecting part and through the bed A, at right angles with its top. This projecting part also 'serves as a means for fastening the tool in the bench-vise when lin u se. i

The lever-clamps G O, attached to the top of the bed, serve as a ready means for fastening the parts of the watch to be operated upon. securely in proper position on the bed, while the nprighting-piece D D, also attached to the top of the bed A, as represented, and which may be made with double top bearings, as in figs. l and 14, or with single long bearing, as in tig. 15, serves to guide and sustain the handles of the centring, freeing, drilling, wheel-riveting, andv watch-jew elling instrumentsin upright position, and in line with the back centring-piece B when in use.

The instruments for drilling, freeing, bushing, and

watch-jewelling purposes, as will be seen by the drawings, are formed in combination, having one and' the same handle, E, each of the several other parts being inserted therein or attached thereto, as occasion requn'es.

The handle E just referred to, is made cylindricaliiu form, perfectly straight, and so tted as to work snugly, but Without undue friction, in the vertical holes made for it in the uprightiug-piece D D; and in order to form a place for attaching to it the cutting and burrushing-pieces G, hereinafter described, about onethird, or a little more than one-third of one side of it, l

is flatted off to the extent of about two inches from its lower end upward, andA the remaining part of its lower end is formed into an ordinary drill-stock, as, shown more clearly at e lv, fig. 2, the bore fu, made to hohl the drills and freeing-points, being formed in eX- act linev with the centre of the shaft or handle, and so as to stand directly over the point b of the back centring-piece B.

The drill-stock as thus formed, and in combination with the bed A, the back centring-piece B, the clamps C (Land the uprighting-piece 1) D, may be used for all the purposes of centring holes to be drilled, upright drilling, freeing wheels where there is not suflieient end-shake to the pinions, and for cutting off pivot-hole bushings level with the surface of the plate in such manner as not to mar the surrounding parts, the drills and cutters for these several piu-poses, several forms of which are represented in figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7, being so varied in shapes and sizes as to adapt them to each special purpose for which they are respectively required to be used. Those for freeing-purposes and for cutting off bushiugs,&c., are made to correspond both in form and in t-he inode of using with the cutters of an ordinary watch-n'iakers freeing-tool, the instrument, when in use, heilig rotated either with the fingers or with the drill-bow, as preferred, .the piece H serving the double purpose of a collet for the drillbow and a gauge for iixing the depth to which the instrument may he made to work.

For centring with the"(liill'stocl and for upright drilling, the drill should be so set that its point will stand in exact line with -the vpoint b'of the back' centring-piece, the handle E being, as it necessarily is,

, held at the same time. at exact rightv angles with the ltop ofthe bed A, by the uprighting-piece D D. Then,

in order to ind the correct centre oi' a pivot-hole, the

opposite one being already known, all that is necessary is to fasten the parts of the watch together in thdeir proper positions, place the hole already known over the conical point of 'the back centring-piece B, and clamp the watch in this position level on the bed A. Then, on bringing the drill down on -the upper side ofthe watch, as thus placed, it necessarily strikes a point exactly perpendicularabove the other hole, and the drill thus finds its own centre, and drills the hole upright at the same time. Or, for uprighting and centring only, the centring-piece I may be used, in combination with the other parts of the uprightingtool, as in the ordinaryway of uprighting, when this is preferred for the purpose, to the use of the drillstock, as described.

The arms G, with cutting and burnishing-points g formed on their lower ends for general watch-jewelling yand wheel-freeing purposes, are made of spring-steel, flat' on one side and rounded on the other, so as to make them, at least at their upper ends, to lit accurately the part fiatted off from the side of the handle E; and when required for use, they are fastened to the handle by means ofthe collar F and the thumb-screw f, as shown clearly in figs. l and 2, the.collar being therereprescnted as passing over and around both the handle andthe upper part ofthe arm, while the thumbscrew passes through one side of the collar and through the handle, pressing with its point against the under` side'of the arm lG, and forcing it outward against the hollow under side of the collar, and thus holding it firmly in position on the handle, but in such way that a single backward-turn of the screw will free it, and

' thus enable the operator instantly to remove it, and i to insert another in its place when he desires to do so;

or thethumb-screw f may be made to pass through the collar only while its end presses against the side of the handle, thus drawing the collar toward it, and forcing it down tight-Iy over the end of the arm G on iatted side of the handle, or two or three short pins placed in it, that will slide into this groove as the arm is pushed into its place.

The tendency of the arm G, when fastened thus in position, is to draw inward close againstthe arm, while.

its bent lower'end falls still further inward over the end of the arm, and thus bring its cutting or burnishiug-point g, when at rest, in line with the pointb of the back centring-piece.

- The cutting and burnishing-points formed on the lower end of the spring-arm just described, may be varied in shape to any desired extent, according to the particular form of the cutting to be executed, or the shape of the 'part to be burnished; and the cutting-edges may be either ou the end, and made to cut from the surface of the plate downward, or on the side, and' made to cutfrom the centre outward, horizontally, or they maybe ou both the side and end ofthe same piece. And, iu like manner, the burnishing-parts may be either on the side or on the end,the edges of these being always rounded and carefully polished, instead of sharp. That for opening theinouth or lifting up the edges of a jewel-setting, should be formed on the side, and made to press from the centre outward as theinstrument is rotated, the proper ydepth to which it should enter the setting having been previously fixed by au adj ustmeut of the collet H, while that for fastening the jewel in its place in thc setting should be' on the end, and bevelled inward toward the centre, somewhat as lshown at g, tig.1,and, in use, should press from the top downward; the thumb-screw o, which passes at right angles through the lower end of the handle, and presses with its point against the under .side of the arni G, as shown in figsil and 2, serving, both in regard to the cutting and burnishingpoints, to force them outward, and to set them at the required distances from the centre, or, when so re' quired, to move them outward by degrees as the work of cutting or burnishing progresses; the small set-nut p serving, at the same time, to fix at pleasure any desired depth on the screw o, beyond which it cannot work.

In forming new jewel-settings with this instrument, the hole to be operated upon should be brought to centre by placing it over the conical end b of the back centring-piece, and in this position the bridge or plate, as the case maybe, clamped level and firmly on the lid A by means of the clamps CVG. The back centring-picce should then be lowered out of the way, the form of cutter desired attached to the handle E, and the collet H so adjusted that the cutter can only work below the surface of the plate to'the depth of the thickness of the jewel to be insertedwbich may be readily done in the following way :v f First, fasten the cutter firmly iu position on the handle, then loosen the collet H, aud-bring the instrument down so the' point of the cutter will rest on the top of the plate to be jewelled, after 'which lay the bare jewel on the top of the uprighting-piece D D, with its edge against the handle E, and move the collet downward until it rests on it-,and fasten it in this position. Then, on removing the jewel, the space between the collet and the top of the uprighting-piecc will indicate the depth to which only the cutting-point can work below the surface of the plate.

Haring thus adjusted the several parts, the work of cutting either or both the inside and outside ofthe setting may be performed by rotating the instrument with the fingers, or, when preferred, by use of the drillbow, as in the case of drilling, using, at the same time, the thumb-screw o, before described, to move the cutter outward from the centre asv thc work progresses.

The form of cutter used-will, of course., determine in great measure the shape of the setting, especially as to whether the vwalls shall be perpendicular, as in the English and most of the American watches, or'

edges of thel settingshould be burnished or lifted up` perpendicular, for the double purpose of opening the mouth of the setting suiciently to admit the jewel, and at the sammtime to raise a burr around its edges, that'may be again burnished vdown over the edges of the jewehto hold it inits plac. (In caseof perpendicular walls, thislatter operation is omitted, the bevelled sink around theontside f the setting being made suiic iently deep and abrupt to answer the same purpose. Y

After fully preparing the setting, as described, the` end-burnisher should be substituted for the side one just used, and with this, after dropping the jewel in its place, the setting be burnished down closely over its edges. v

In resetting jewels that have been broken out, the

two burnishing-points only are used, the work being Vperformed in precisely the same way as new work, omitting the cutting. For wheel-freeing and other like purposes, the same cutter maybe used as for cutting the bevelled siu'k around the outside ot'jewel-settings; or a cutter more nearly square on its edge may he used, so as to make a smoother face-cutting, the collet H, in all such cases, as also in using the cutting and freeing-points with the drill-stock, being used to fix the-depth to which it may he desired thecutter should work.

For riveting wheels upright on their pinions, the

' riveting-punchesK areinade, three or more in numher, of the usual form of punches for this purpose,

and of assorted sizes, to adapt them to the. differentin all cases made of steel, and the lower or riveting.

ends hardened and carefully polished.

The I iveting-stake L may be made either of steel l or of hard, polished bell-metal, and should be perfectly dat, and of uniform thickness, with some half dozen or more upright holes drilled through it, `of assorted sizes,-ianging from that of the smallest to t-he largestsized pivot-hole, each of which should be countersunk `stakesh'onld be clamped securely on the top ofthe bed A. v

The pinion should be placed in an upright position on the stake, with its pivot resting in the previouslycentred hole, and the wlleel be placed on the pinion in proper position to be driven home; after which, a punch ot suitablersize should he brought to bear upon it, with its handle passing through the'holes in the top of the uprigllting-pece D D, aild thereby held in an upright position, and' with a blow or two of the riveting-hammer on its top, the wheel be driven home on the pinion and fastened there,

From an examination of this contrivance, it will be readily seen that if the several parts are accurately made and properly used, it is scarcely possible to rivet a wheel on its pinion otherwise than upright with it; and that its use will wholly avoid the hitherto frequent occurrence of wheels being thrown out of centre and out of upright by inaccurate riveting.

Having thus described my improved invention, so

that any one skilled in the work can use the same,

- What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isv 1. The arm Gr,` with cutting and burnishing-points g, in combination with the handle E, the collar F, and..V the thumb-screws f and o, snbstantiallyas and for the purposes, described.

2, The combination ofthe subject-matter of aboveV clause with the drill-stock c r, substantially as described, and for the purposes set forth.

3. The combination of the riveting-punch Kand stake L, with the bed A, centring-piece B, the uprighting-piece D D, and the upright handle I or M,

substantially as' and for the'purposes set forth.

4.- rj he improved combina-tion uprghting, freeing, centring, drilling, wheel-riveting, bushing, and watchjewelling apparatus herein described, the several parts beinfr constructed and o erated in combination suba 7 stantially as set forth.

' C. HOPKINS.

Witnesses Y JOHN Knox, E. W. Masson. 

